CENTRE Max Stelling and full-back Chris Pennell have been ruled out of Worcester Warriors’ Greene King IPA Championship play-off semi-final first leg at London Scottish on Saturday (1.45pm).

Director of rugby Dean Ryan said Pennell’s knee injury was not as bad as first feared but confirmed Stelling had suffered a hamstring strain.

Stelling hurt his leg when scoring Warriors’ opening try in the 30-26 defeat against rivals Bristol at Sixway and Pennell hobbled off early in the second period.

“Both of them have injuries which will rule them out,” said Ryan.

“Max will be out slightly longer than Chris. I think we were initially concerned that Chris’ injury might be long-term which it’s not going to be but it will rule him out of this weekend “Max, potentially, will be slightly longer.

“We are not going to discuss the timelines, not for being defensive, but because we are going to be aggressive at working towards how quickly we can get them back.

“Penns is reasonably good news and I don’t see it being a significant loss. With Max, we’re going to have to work really hard to see how quickly we can get him back.”

Stelling has been one of Warriors’ star performers this season with an impressive tally of 17 tries from 24 appearances. He was voted as the Championship’s player of the month for March.

Ryan said: “We are not sure he (Stelling) won’t figure in the play-offs – he just won’t figure this weekend.”

Ben Howard, who was not in Warriors’ squad last weekend, is likely to replace the injured Pennell at full-back.

Andy Symons, who suffered concussion in the clash with Cornish Pirates, could step into Stelling’s boots at outside centre. Fellow backs Alex Grove and Ravai Fatiaki are other options.

Warriors recorded a league double over Scottish during the campaign but Ryan says the play-offs are a different beast.

“It’s two-game cup rugby and I have not been involved in anything like it before,” said Ryan. Aggregate score is a different approach. The contest is about 160 minutes and we have to be in the best shape to make sure we get through.”

He added: “There will be a few changes. We are not going to have 15 people running the last five games. We have to keep making sure we have got people in. We will make a couple of changes to this weekend – some of them forced and some of them not.”

Meanwhile, Pennell has been nominated for April’s Championship player of the month.

He has been shortlisted alongside Charlie Amesbury (Bristol), Matt Williams (London Scottish) and Sean Scanlon (Rotherham Titans). To vote, visit EnglandRugby.com/champ-potm